TThe Florida Grocers Association (FGA), a division of the Florida Retail Federation, hosted an event to identify Florida’s best bagger of groceries among Sunshine State grocery industry employees.

The 1st Annual Florida Best Bagger Competition took place Sunday, July 23 during the 2017 Sunshine EXPO®, one of the largest retailing events in the Southeast, with contestants representing a number of grocery stores throughout Florida. The winner of this inaugural contest was Kelina Salinas from Lucky’s Market. In addition to taking home “bagging rights” for the year, Kelina also won the $1,000 grand prize along with an all-expense paid trip to represent Florida and compete for a $10,000 grand prize at the National Grocers Association National Best Bagger Championship held in February 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“We were thrilled with the interest and participation from our grocery members for our first ever Best Bagger Competition as well as the excitement of the audience during the event,” said FGA Executive Director Josie Correa. “I want to congratulate all of the contestants for participating in this inaugural event, and we look forward to supporting Kelina and cheering her on as she represents the State of Florida at the national championships in February.”

The runner-up bagger, Josue Anelus from Publix, received $500 while the third place contestant, J.P. Paiva also from Publix, won $250.

The Florida Best Bagger Competition was for supermarket employees demonstrating a superior core customer service skill in a friendly competition. Contestants were judged by speed of bagging, proper bag-building technique, weight distribution in the bag, as well as style, attitude and appearance. All stores were encouraged to do their own in-store competition and then send their best bagger to the Florida competition. Family, friends, cheer teams and fellow workers were in attendance to cheer on their favorite contestant.